Different Realities
by BlackRaven
Summary: Families are brutally murdered and the BAU team is called in but the case holds several surprises for them as well as a connection to a case from the past. And the Director breathing down their neck isn't making things any easier!Post s.2! Please Review!
1. Prologue

This story, or the overall concept for it, has been in my head for a long time. I previously tried to create it into a CSI Las Vegas fic which was posted here, but the story was never finished. In part, it was because I got lost and sidetracked by all the technical forensic stuff that are instrumental for a CSI fic, but mostly is was because somewhere along the line, I lost interest in the show and my attachment or affection for the characters was no longer there.

That being said, although some of the premise for this story is similar - it is a very different story. I'm hoping Criminal Minds will be a better venue for this story because of its psychological, rather then forensic, aspect.

This story takes place after the season 2 finale and I will try to infuse some of my speculations about season 3 into it - but it will not really be the main focus of the story. At least I don't think so.

Another note – I've done extensive research for this story. All the facts you read here about serial killers and stuff like that have all been taken from several books and a lot of hours reading articles on the net. They are all true and have been verified – just like in the series.

* * *

Prologue

* * *

"Mommy please!" The young girl pouted and gave her mother one of her most pleading looks.

"No! No more stories! It's way past your bedtime princess!" Her mother insisted with a smile, trying hard not to allow herself to cave to those pleading eyes of her daughter. She gave the girl a soft kiss on her forehead and tucked the covers tightly around her "You'll get a new bedtime story tomorrow! I promise!"

When the little girl finally relented and nodded she got up and headed for the door "Good night Honey! Sleep tight!"

"Good night Mommy" came the already sleepy reply and the mother smiled to herself before continuing down the hall to her own bedroom.

"So how many stories did it take this time?" Her husband asked from his place on the bed, a knowing smile on his face even though he didn't bother looking up from his own reading.

"Three!" She laughed "She sure is your daughter, that one!"

She climbed into bed next to her husband and waited. A minute later he put down his book and turned off the reading lamp. She felt him put his arm around her as he whispered good night. A few moments later they were both fast asleep.

They didn't hear him as he came into the house.

They didn't hear him as he slowly crept up the stairs.

By the time anyone realized he was there, it was already too late. Much too late.

* * *

ONE WEEK LATER - BAU, QUANTICO, VIRGINIA.

"A week ago the Anderson family was killed in their home in Arizona" JJ began the briefing while handing out folders for the team to review.

She was interrupted for a moment when Emily came in and apologized for her lateness, looking tiered and preoccupied.

Once the final member of the team was settles in with a folder in her hands JJ continued her briefing "David and Karen Anderson and their three children: Beth, Simon and Kylie were all found dead later that day after the father failed to show up for work. The police has hit a dead end and are asking for our help"

"All members of the family were severely tortured" Hotch picked up the briefing as JJ continued displaying images of the crime scene on the screen before them "the UNSUB spent an enormous amount of time with them, probably the entire night and most of the day after that."

"Torture murders usually indicate a total disregard for human life and a feeling of pleasure derived from inflicting pain onto others" Gideon supplied.

"According to the coroner's report" Hotch said gravely "The children died first" he felt sick just thinking about it - parents being forced to watch their children tortured to death.

"In the 1980s Leonard Lake and Charles Ng killed eighteen people in California, torturing them for days, sometimes even weeks. Several times the torture included killing infants in front of their mothers" Reid stated, his brain automatically connecting the facts of their current case to the facts of one of the hundred other cases all stored away in his mind. Sometimes it scared people, the way his mind worked, the way he could just recall these tidbits of disturbing information with effortless ease, but his team was used to it by now. Not to mention, after the several weeks in which he'd been completely off his game due to what happened to him in Georgia (and the drugs…of course) they were more than happy to listen to him rattle off facts and tidbits since it meant he was slowly but surely making his way back to them.

"Who ever this is" Gideon said finally "He's not going to stop until we catch him"

"Wheels up in 30 minutes" Hotch announced "We're going to Arizona"


	2. chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

**Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime**

**Maximilien Robespierre **

* * *

45 MINUTES LATER - BAU JET

"So what do we know about our UNSUB?" Hotch started the brainstorming as soon as they were all seated on the jet and the plane was finally in the air.

"We have two components which seem to be in contradiction with each other" Gideon began "Torture killers are all about pain and control. Killing an entire family is difficult, hard to maintain control"

"Family killings are usually perpetrated by a family member" Reid supplied "One of the most famous family killers was Nannie Doss. She killed 11 people starting in the 1920s. Her final tally was four husbands, two children, two of her sisters, her mother, her grandson and one of her nephews"

"Yeah but she didn't kill them all at the same time, didn't she?" Morgan asked. "And there was no element of torture to those crimes"

"There's always Lizzie Borden" Emily joked "Didn't she kill both her parents with axe blows to the head?"

"Actually" Reid said excitedly, the way he always got when he had a particularly juicy or obscure fact to share "Lizzie Borden was never convicted of killing her parents. There are some who believe she didn't actually do it. There was allegation that the maid, Bridget Sullivan, killed the Borden's because she was forced to clean the windows on an extremely hot day"

"Hey, doing the windows always makes me slightly homicidal" JJ quipped without lifting her head off the case file and everyone chuckled for a moment before Hotch brought them back to the topic

"We should look into family members. Tell Garcia to check all living relatives of the Anderson family"

* * *

TUSCON, ARIZONA - THE ANDERSON RESIDENCE

The local detective in charge of the case met them at the Anderson house as soon as they arrived. JJ and Emily headed straight to the local police station to start going over the files and prepare for the press conference that was most likely to come at some point or another.

The air was hot and humid and Derek thought that he just might remember hearing something about a heat wave that wouldn't let up. He hoped there was air conditioning in the local police office; otherwise it was going to be a very long day.

As Hotch made the introductions, Derek had the time to evaluate the man before him. He was tall and slender but with a solid built and confidence that indicated that the guy was once an athlete, possibly a high school football star of some sorts. He had dark hair and brown eyes that were warm and inviting even under these circumstances, a quality that probably came in handy in his line of work.

He showed them into the large house, identifying himself as Detective Kyle Baker, and led them straight into the upstairs bedroom "The bodies were found here. Mom and Dad were still on the bed, the two children were on the carpet at the foot of the bed" He indicated to two large blood pools on the carpet "The mother had 37 slash wounds. All superficial, burn marks on her hands and feet - cause of death was strangulation. The daughter bled to death, the son was beaten badly, one of his ribs punctured his lung and heart. The father had 30 slash wounds, several broken bones, cause of death was loss of blood from a nicked artery."

"Any sign of sexual assault?" Hotch asked

"Nothing we could find but the bodies were in a real bad shape" Baker replied

"Usually in the case of family killings, the anger is directed at one member of the family in particular, the others are merely collateral damage or tools to prove a point, but here it seems like all members of the family suffered the same amount of torture at the hands of the UNSUB" Reid stated.

"There were ligature marks on the hands and feet of both parents" Hotch read from the fresh forensic file in his hands "So I guess we know how he managed to maintain control over the entire family for a long period of time."

"You said two of the children were found in here, what about the third child?" Gideon asked detective Baker

"The oldest daughter was found in her own bedroom, at the bottom of her own closet"

"Show me" Gideon instructed and followed the detective down the hall to one of the other bedrooms. The room obviously belonged to a teenaged girl with posters of movie stars on the walls and school books strewn all over the floor. The doors of the closet were open and Gideon could see the large pool of blood on the floor indicating where the girl had been found.

"He put the rest of the family together but the girl was placed here" Gideon was thinking out loud "Why? Why separate the family?"

Suddenly it hit him and he rushed back to the master bedroom to join the others.

"He placed the girl in the closet, he wanted her to listen, he wanted her to hear while he killed her family!"

He looked pointedly at Hotch and Morgan, waiting for them to get his meaning. It took only seconds before they did. Hotch let out a deep sigh, Derek simply pulled out his phone and called Garcia.

* * *

"Hey honey" Hailey's voice on the other end of the line had an immediate soothing affect on him. He could hear Jack making baby noises in the background.

"Hey Hailey, just wanted to call, see how you and Jack are doing" he lied then glanced at Gideon who was driving and back at Derek who was occupying the back seat. He leaned further until he was pressed up against the window, trying to get some measure of privacy and pretending to watch the view of the quiet neighborhood outside as they made their way to the police station.

"We're fine, I was just about to give Jack his bath…Aren't you supposed to be in Arizona Honey?"

"I am…"

She noted his tone and the fact that he was calling her in the middle of the day - she didn't need to be a profiler or a detective to know that something was bothering him "Honey is everything ok?"

"Yeah it's fine…" He said quietly

"It's the case isn't it? It's a bad one?" She deduced. Her suspicions were confirmed when he didn't answer for a full minute.

"Just take care of yourself ok Aaron? I love you!" She sighed

"I love you too Hailey!" He replied, his heart all of the sudden made lighter just by hearing her words "Give Jack a kiss for me"

When she said she would he said his goodbyes and hung up the conversation. Suddenly the world seemed just a little less dark around the edges.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N Hey everyone! here is the next chapter of this story! thank you to everyone who reviewed so far and I hope you keep enjoying and reviewing it! The stroy is going to pick up in the next chapter and become a lot more interesting I promise! Just keep reading!

* * *

Emily threw another file on the stack before her and sighed. She'd been going over files all morning and most of the early afternoon with no results. She couldn't find any crimes in the area that seemed like they had the same MO or appeared to be indicative of a natural escalation of the UNSUB they were looking for. There were some stabbings, some beatings, a few strangulations – but nothing where all three of them appeared at once and nothing with the level of torture they saw on the Anderson family. Not even close.

Her phone rang and she answered it while pulling another file from the stack in front of her.

"Agent Prentiss" She recognized the director's voice immediately and looked around to check that JJ wasn't in earshot. "I was wondering if you've had a chance to think about what I've said"

Emily got up from her seat and quickly walked over to a deserted part of the corridor where no one would be able to hear her "Madam Director, no disrespect, but I don't really understand what exactly you're asking me to do"

"I just need you to open your eyes and ears agent Prentiss. You have a great future in this agency. Agent Hotchner and Agent Gideon are out of control and they're taking the rest of that team down the road with them. I just want you to keep me appraised of their actions. That's all"

"You want me to spy on my team?" Emily asked incredulously.

"I want you to think about your future…" The director started giving her the same pitch again but Emily cut her off. She didn't have time for this right now.

"They're calling for me! I have to go!" she lied before hanging up the conversation and heading back to the pile of folders waiting for her on the desk. Suddenly, the simple task of going through files didn't seem so bad at all.

* * *

"The press is getting antsy, they've been cut off from any real information for over a week now and they're just about to go crazy" JJ told Hotch by way of greeting as soon as they walked into the local police station "The Andersons were prominent members of the community and the press is screaming for answers"

"I checked the files" Emily reported "There's no prior crimes matching this MO in the area in the last six months. Maybe it's his first kill"

"It's not!" Gideon said gravely and headed straight to one of the desks where Derek already had Garcia on the line.

"Garcia did you get the file we asked for?" Gideon leaned against the desk.

"Yeah, but I'm afraid it's all bad news" she replied and they could hear her fingers hitting the keys even as she spoke "Lily Montgomery is nowhere to be found. No drivers license, no address, no tax returns - nada!"

"Who's Lily Montgomery?" Detective Baker asked, confused. He already knew something was wrong - the total silence between the three agents all the way back from the crime scene was a dead give away even if he hadn't been a detective trained to notice small details.

"2001, Atlanta, the Montgomery family was tortured and killed in their home - Mom, Dad, 2 children - all dead. The killer was never apprehended" Hotch explained.

"So the entire family was killed like this one?" Prentiss asked

"Not the entire family" Derek said somberly "The oldest girl, Lily, was 13 at the time. There was a crawl space in her bedroom, she must have heard something and went in there to hide. She survived"

"Must have?" Emily picked up on his phrasing "She was never interviewed?"

"Not really. Lily's room was right next to her parent's room, she was in that crawl space for a long time. The police were in that house for 6 hours before they found her, she never came out. She was almost catatonic - we tried, but there was no way she was gonna tell us anything" Derek Explained.

"I checked everything" Garcia interjected "Mental hospitals, private facilities, state asylums - there's no trace of her!"

"Keep looking" Gideon instructed as he ended the call and stepped over to the wall covered in pictures of the crime scene.

"But if the Montgomery case was in 2001… isn't six years between kills kind of a long time?" Prentiss mused out loud

"Maybe we're looking for someone who's been in prison for the past 6 years?" JJ offered.

"Hold on, hold on!" Hotch put the reigns on the brain storming before it got out of hand "We're still not sure that the two murders are connected. We have no way of knowing that this is the same UNSUB."

"If this is the same guy who killed the Montgomery family we need to know what he's been up to for the past 6 years." Hotch continued once he got everyone's attention "He may have been in prison, he may have been incapacitated, but we can't know for sure until we're absolutely sure he hasn't been killing undetected this whole time"

"We need to get a wider search" Prentiss agreed "I checked local files but if he's been doing this undetected for 6 years it could mean he's been moving around. Different states, different jurisdictions, it would make it damn near impossible to link the cases"

"Gideon, you know there's one person who might know where Lily Montgomery is" Derek said hesitantly as he came over and joined Gideon by the wall while the other team members continued making speculations and Hotch got on the phone with Garcia "She knows everything there is to know about the Montgomery case. If the two are connected, she might be able to help."

Gideon seemed to consider this for a moment then looked back at Derek and nodded "Go pay her a visit. See what she knows"

Gideon's tone told Derek that this was going to be more then just a routine witness questioning assignment.

* * *

"You've reached the office of the all mighty cyber queen" Garcia's cheerful voice answered after only two rings "Speak now and all your wishes may be answered"

Derek had to smile at her energy. No matter how bad the case was - Talking to Garcia always had a way of perking things up.

"Hey baby girl" He greeted "I need you to pull a file for me. Riley Davis, female, former FBI employee"

"Ok give me a second here" He could hear her working the keyboard in the background "Here we go. Riley Davis born 1975 in upstate New York, Wow… family was sure loaded. Got a degree in criminal psychology from Stanford, joined the FBI, two years on sex crimes, one year in Hostage negotiation, then 7 month in the BAU. Ooh… is this a case of profiler-gone-bad? You know, I always had a hunch one of you guys is gonna go snap one of these days…"

"Stay with me cyber mama…focus!" He warned her in a playful tone

"Okay, okay. After the BAU she goes off the grid for about 2 years, no address, no tax returns, then she shows up again, this time in California. She's a consultant for several security companies and K&R firms…"

"Give me an address gorgeous one… I've got the jet all fired up and ready to go…"

"Yeah well you better get it un-fired up and prepare yourself for some driving cause she's 3 hours away… Las Crusas, New Mexico…"

"3 hours?" It was too much of a coincidence, he didn't believe in coincidences "Ok thanks baby girl! You're the best!"

"Yes I am!"

He could hear her laugh as he hung up the phone.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N Well, here is the next chapter and the time when I finally Unveil my OC to the world. As a side note I must say that there is a fine line between a good OC and a Mary Sue and I'm trying very hard not to cross it. I set a few rules to myself in order to do that and one of the main rules is that the focus of the story will continue to be on the original characters of Criminal Minds and that my character will not take over the entire thing… I hope you continue reading and let me know what you think.**

* * *

**OUTSIDE LAS CRUSAS, NEW MEXICO**

"So who is this woman? This, Riley Davis, that were going to see?" Emily asked as they drove through the New Mexico desert en rout to the location Garcia gave them. She had the file right there in her lap, she could easily go through it and get her answers, but that's not what she wanted. They hit the road early in the morning and headed for the address Garcia gave them the previous night. Derek, usually the open, charismatic and chatty member of the group, had been quiet the entire time. She could tell this meeting they were about to take was highly uncomfortable for him - but she just didn't know him well enough to tell exactly what it was.

"Riley and I went through Quantico together, joined the BAU at about the same time. The Montgomery case was our third, maybe forth, case. When we found Lily Montgomery Riley was the one who was sent in to try to interview her. She was in that room with her for three days straight."

"But she didn't get anything…"

"No, but after that, Riley became obsessed with the case. Even after the rest of us gave up, she kept working on it - after hours, weekends… After a while it started affecting her work and she was fired."

"And you're betting that she's still keeping track of the case and would know where Lily Montgomery is?" Emily concluded

"Something like that" Derek answered cryptically just as they drove up to the ranch house.

They stepped out of the car and went up the dirt path leading to the ranch house. The house itself was a large, one story, wooden structure with a large deck all around it. There were a few trees around the house and a structure that looked like a barn of a stable of some sort a little further away. She didn't see any cattle but there were a couple horses running around in a corral next to the barn. Derek walked up to the house and knocked on the front door and a few minutes later a young woman opened the door.

She was short and slender with light brown hair and green eyes. She wore a pair of sandals, a faded jeans and a white wife beater which made Emily feel extremely overdressed in her formal business suite. When she saw Derek she smiled widely "Derek, took you long enough to get here…"

"Hey Riley" He smiled back at her "I gather you've heard about the murder in Arizona"

"It's the Montgomery case Derek, now what kind of obsessive ex-agent would I be if I didn't pick up on that one?" she said sarcastically.

"Riley we need to talk to Lily Montgomery. Do you know where she is?"

"Why do you need to talk to her?" Riley stepped outside and closed the door behind her, joining them on the front porch.

"Can she?" Emily jumped in, then remembered that she was never actually introduced "Sorry, I'm Agent Emily Prentiss, nice to meet you! Can Lily Montgomery talk? Isn't she catatonic?"

"She started talking again about 3 years after the murders. Just a few words at first, it was a long process, but I don't know how much good it's gonna do you"

"What do you mean?"

Riley took a look around and sighed "You mind if we take a walk?"

Derek gave Emily a questioning look, and then shrugged. Soon, the three of them were walking around the grounds heading for the barn.

"Lily is talking, but it's not that simple. It's called Traumatic regression. Basically what it means is that as far as Lily is concerned, she's still 13 years old. Her mind reverted back to a time in her life when she was happy and safe, before the murders took place. She simply blocked them out of her mind, they never happened"

"Was there any attempt made to try helping her remember?" Emily asked hesitantly "Medication, hypnosis…"

"The doctors did for a while… some of them even made some progress… but…"

"But what?" Derek pressed on when she didn't elaborate.

"Truth is. I'm not sure she should remember. Lily is never going to be normal, not after what she went through, not after all the time she missed. She's happy now, like this, the way she is. I'm not sure anymore that drudging up all those memories is going to bring her anything other that more pain."

"We still would like to talk to her" Derek insisted "Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah" Riley sighed "She's here, she lives here"

"She lives here?" Derek said incredulously. His mind automatically going back to the time they worked with Max Ryan, trying to locate the Keystone killer. He masked it with anger and irritation but it was hard for him to see a former agent getting so consumed by 'the one that got away' that he had nothing else in his life other then the pursuit.

"Don't give me that look Derek, this has nothing to do with the case or my so-called obsession with it" She spat angrily "Over the years Lily and I have gotten close. Her only living relative is an aunt who's a really great woman but has three children of her own and Lily does need some level of care. She feels safe with me and when her aunt asked me for help I was glad to do what I can."

Both Derek and Emily were quiet for a moment following Riley's outburst and Riley took a deep breath to calm herself before turning back to walk towards the house "Lily is back at the house if you wanna talk to her"

* * *

**TUSCON, ARIZONA - THE CRAMER RESIDENCE**

The bodies were found late in the afternoon. A family friend came by to talk to the mother about an upcoming PTA meeting and found the front door unlocked.

The house was a large two story cottage, although not as big as the one the Anderson family had lived in. The two boys had been sharing a room – one side of which was full of toy soldiers and model trains, the other with porters of baseball players, trophies and 'get well soon' cards from school friends and team mates. The girl's bedroom was filled to a tee with stuffed animals and had a mural of Pooh bear and Tiger on one of its walls.

The neighborhood looked like something right out of a 'clean living' magazine. A peaceful place that would otherwise seem quiet and inviting, if not for the several police units now cluttering the street.

Just like the Andersons before them, both parents were still in their bed. The mother was stabbed 25 times and there were cigarette burns on her arms and legs, the father was badly beaten and stabbed, one of the children was strangled repeatedly the other bled to death from multiple stab wounds.

The oldest child - a boy by the name of Chris - was placed in the cupboard in the next room where he bled to death from internal wounds caused by severe beatings.

The coroner put the time of death nearly 40 hours before the discovery. The mother was a stay-at-home mom, the father was working from home that week, which is why it took so long for the bodies to be discovered.

When they first walked in Hotch noted that the air inside was standing still and the unmistakable metallic aroma of dried blood did nothing to make the air any more breathable.

They walked the crime scene and talked to both the first officer on the scene and the family friend who found the bodies - the cops and CSI technicians in the house kept sending them angry glares as if they somehow failed them by not stopping the gruesome murder from happening. Detective Baker looked like he was about to explode.

"We were wrong" Hotch said as soon as they finished their walk-through of the crime scene and stepped out of the house to the fresh morning air. "We thought he wasn't directing his anger at one specific member of the family"

"But he's targeting the oldest child" Gideon agreed "Separating him from the rest of the family, making a child listen to his parents being killed"

"But the child doesn't actually hear his parents being killed" Reid corrected "The children died before the parents"

"All except Lily Montgomery" Hotch reminded them "In fact she went into that crawl space on her own, we have no indication the UNSUB even knew she was in there during the murders"

"Have Garcia check for connection between the two families." Gideon instructed Reid as they started heading for the SUV "And call Prentiss and Morgan. We need to talk to that girl"

* * *

"Lily?" Emily stepped into the room slowly and spoke to the woman sitting crossed legged on the bed. She was wearing a white dress and a pink cardigan sweater, her long brown hair was falling in waves all the way down to her shoulders. She looked like any normal teenager of about 18 years of age. In complete contrast to her adult appearance, she was busy using crayons to color a page out of a children's coloring book and the room around her was filled with dolls and teddy bears.

"Where's auntie Riley?" Her voice, too, sounded childish when she spoke and looked up to look at Prentiss quizzically.

"Aunt Riley is outside talking to an old friend" Emily smiled her most non-threatening smile and came closer to the girl "She said I could come in here and meet you. Do you mind if I sit with you for a little while?"


	5. Chapter 4

* * *

**Chapter 4

* * *

**

**TUSCON, ARIZONA**

"Hotchner" Hotch greeted as he picked up his cell phone

"Do you want the bad news or the really bad news first?" Garcia's voice told him without bothering with the pleasantries, which always indicated bad news were coming "So far I have no connection between the Cramer's and the Anderson's. David Anderson worked in publishing; Samuel Cramer was an investment banker. The Anderson kids were in public school, the Cramer kids went to private school - if there is a connection between the two families I can't see it."

"What about relatives?" Hotch asked

"Lorain Cramer had a brother but he's clean. He owns a car dealership and lives in Florida. Now the Anderson family is where it gets a little bit more interesting. David Anderson has a step son from a previous marriage. The kid's name is Jack Anderson, he is 22 and he has a criminal record a mile long"

"Do you have an address?"

"Not yet but I'm working on it, you'll know as soon as I do sugar"

She hung up the phone and Hotch smiled at her antics. He didn't bother trying to tell her not to call him pet names - it was like trying to tell Garcia not to breath. She had her quirks - but she was the best computer tech there is - if there was a way to find Jack Anderson - she'd find it.

* * *

**New Mexcio**

Riley came out of the house and joined Derek on the porch after looking in on Emily and Lily to make sure everything was ok. She waited until he got off the phone, giving him some privacy, before coming closer and joining him against the rail.

"You know, it would be helpful if you came back to Arizona with us. You're the expert on the Montgomery case - if the two are connected - you might be able to help." He tried to sound neutral but he knew she could see right through him.

"You didn't come all this way just to see if I know where Lily is." She smiled at him, stating a fact more than asking for confirmation "I was a profiler too Derek. I know the drill. You came here to see if I took my obsession with the Montgomery case a step further and killed the Anderson family"

"You're right, you were a profiler and you know what we're looking for. A highly intelligent and organized person, between 25 and 35 years old, need driven, with a fascination of criminology and some knowledge of forensics. You can't deny that you fit the profile Riley and the fact that you live just three hours away from the last murder is just a little bit too convenient don't you think?" He didn't try to seem apologetic or remorseful as he confronted her with the hard truth. He was doing his job, doing what had to be done, and they both knew it.

She was quiet for a moment and he couldn't tell if she was angry at him or just resigning herself to the situation. Finally she nodded slowly and gave him a reassuring smile "I'll go pack a bag"

He stopped her before she got to the door "Pack a bag for Lily too"

"There's no way that's going to happen Morgan and you know it" She said icily.

"We need to talk to her…" He started explaining but she cut him off.

"Agent Prentiss is already talking to her"

"Gideon needs to talk to her"

"Then Gideon should have come here" she said angrily "If I bring her to Arizona the first thing she's going to see when she walks into that station is pictures on the wall of people killed exactly the same way her parents were. Then she's gonna be questioned, and grilled and pushed and prodded - but that's not even the reason I'm not going to do it"

"Then why?" Derek asked even though he already knew the answer

"Because if this UNSUB is really the psycho who killed Lily's family, there's no way I'm putting her in the same state with him let alone the same city" There was a finality to her voice that Derek didn't bother trying to argue with. "I'm sending her to stay with her aunt and she'll stay there until you come up with a better reason for her to come to Arizona then: Gideon wants to talk to her"

* * *

**TUSCON, ARIZONA - LOCAL POLICE STATION**

"Did I hear correct?" Detective Baker cornered JJ as she was going down the hall towards the conference room where the team had set up office. "Is Agent Morgan on his way here with a suspect?"

"I don't know if suspect is such a good description of it…" JJ tried sidestepping the issue, her keen senses telling her there was real potential for trouble here "More like a person of interest"

"Forget the semantics Agent Jareau" He said rather angrily, but JJ refused to be offended by his tone. She knew how this cop was feeling – he was facing two brutal murders with no forensic leads and the press was breathing down his neck – he was at the end of his rope and the desperation could be seen clearly in his eyes "If you guys have a suspect we need to do a press conference – give the hounds something to sink their teeth in"

"I think a press conference is a little premature at this point" JJ replied as politely as she could and tried to continue her way down the hall, only to have her path blocked by the large form of the angry detective

"Premature? There are families being killed in their homes! The entire city is in a panic!"

"And telling them we have a suspect in custody only to have another family killed the next day is going to do nothing to alleviate that panic" JJ said calmly, her years of experience dealing with angry police officers and press mobs kicking in. "We don't know what we have yet, and if we go public before we're sure all it's gonna do is send the public a message that the police has no idea how to do it's job"

Chastised by her words Detective Baker pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly and let out a big sigh. His posture slumped and he leaned against the wall "I'm sorry, It's just…"

"It's ok Detective" JJ assured him with a soft smile "I know you're just trying to do what you think is best and on any other case you might have been right in your instincts, but this isn't a normal case and you need to trust us, we know how to do our job!"


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N sorry it took so long to update. I'm going to be updateing more quickly in the next few weeks because I want to have this story finished before the new CM season starts and the writers of the show prove us all wrong... Hope someone is enjoying this, I'm not getting a lot of reviews but hopefully someone out there is still reading!**

* * *

It took some time to get things under control once Derek showed up at the station with Riley but without Lily Montgomery. Detective Baker demanded to be the one to question her, even threatening to call the chief of police if he was denied access to her, Gideon was peeved that his orders seemed to have been ignored and that Lily Montgomery has not been brought in - it took about half an hour for Hotchner to talk the detective down and another hour to sit with Gideon to listen to Prentiss and Morgan's explanations (which he had to admit seemed pretty reasonable), before he was free to takle the task at hand which was the interrogation of Riley Davis.

"What do you suggest?" Hotch asked Gideon as the two of them watched Riley Davis from behind the one way mirror of the interrogation room, finally alone after Detective Baker relented and left them to their work.

"She's a profiler, she went through the training and she's exceptionally smart" Gideon said as he looked at the young woman who had once been a member of his team "She knows all our tricks. If we try and walk around in circles - we'll never get anywhere"

"So straight to the point and no beating around the bush" Hotch summarized the strategy

"She knows why she's here, she knew the moment we asked her to come down here" Gideon concluded before leaving the room to allow Hotch to prepare for the interview.

Once alone Hotch took a deep breath to steel himself before walking into the room and taking a seat opposite Riley Davis.

"Hotch, long time no see" She greated with a warm smile, seeming genuinely pleased to see him despite the circumstances.

"Hello Riley" He greeted trying to appear at ease even though he hated every minute of it. He hated the fact that this was always his job. Just like when he was the one who had to confront Elle when she spun out of control, or the one who had to go into that interrogation room and confront Derek about his past. He hated it - but it was his responsibility. He was the team leader and that meant that he was in charge for the conduct of his agents - past and present.

"So you wanna know if I killed the Anderson family?"

"And the Cramer family. Their bodies were found yesterday" He didn't bother placing pictures of the crime scene in front of her. She used to be a trained FBI agent - blood and gore wouldn't make her flinch.

"Well I didn't. Anything else you want to know?" She sounded flippant.

"You don't seem very concerned or saddened to hear another family has been killed" He stated.

"Right, I forgot!" She was playing him and they both knew it but he allowed her to keep at it - at least for now "Torture killings indicate a total disregard and apathy to human suffering. So am I a sadistic torture killer now as well as obsessive?"

"No" He smiled slightly "Because you only feign apathy. You care about human suffering, maybe even too much… which brings us back to your obsession"

"Have I mentioned how much I hate that word? Obsession?"

"How would you phrase it?" he leaned back in his chair, part of him was enjoying the intellectual sparring.

"Over-eager, extremely interested in seeing justice done, overly passionate"

"Those are all great euphemisms, but I notice you're not denying that you are, in fact, obsessed"

"Was obsessed, and you're right. I'm not denying it." She leaned forward before speaking again, he voice becoming softer "You were right to take me out Hotch! I was a loose cannon, it was only a matter of time before I made a mistake and gotten someone hurt"

He was silent for a minute, looking down at his hands, thinking of a way to answer her - but she beat him to it "Only that's not what you feel guilty about isn't it Hotch?"

At that moment he decided to put all his cards on the table "I sent you in that room with Lily Montgomery. I knew your file, I knew about your history and I sent you in there anyway"

She smiled sadly at him "Yeah, you knew about my history. You knew I came from a rich family and that I lost my mother at a young age - and you knew that those facts meant I was the one most likely to make a connection with her"

"I also knew that a connection works both ways" He said weakly

"You had a fifty fifty chance" She shrugged "I would have done the same thing"

* * *

"So?" Gideon asked as soon as Hotch joined them in the main bullpen and Detective Baker came to stand right beside them.

"She's not the UNSUB" Hotch shook his head "She didn't do it."

"How can you be so sure?" Baker insisted. This was the first brake he had, the first lead, he wasn't ready to give it up so easily and go back to square one.

"She has empathy for the victims, she tries to hide it but it's there" Hotch shrugged as he explained his reasoning. Baker gave him a pointed look and stalked off, telling Hotch that the detective was not at all convinced by this type of reasoning. "What have you got here?" He asked Gideon indicating the activity in the room.

Everyone seemed to be busy at work - Prentiss was going over files, Reid was hanging up pictures on the wall, Derek was on the phone, he couldn't see JJ but he knew she was probably out there doing her best to control the press from going into frenzy.

"We just got the complete Montgomery file" Gideon reported "we're going through everything again trying to find the connection"

Just then, Riley, accompanied by a uniformed officer, stuck her head through the door and smiled at Hotch "I just wanted to thank you all for the lovely visit to the Grand Canyon state"

She proceeded to greet Gideon with a 'hello' and a smile and kiss Derek goodbye on the cheek, an action that caused Prentiss and Reid to raise an eyebrow at him. As she started walking back out of the room, she stopped for a minute before the wall of photos depicting the Anderson and Cramer murders and looked at them for a minute. A moment later she smiled at everyone again and headed for the door.

"Stop!" Gideon instructed and Riley froze in her place, then turned around and looked at him quizzically "You saw something… when you looked at the pictures… you saw something, what was it?"

"How do you know I saw something?" She challenged him but Gideon wasn't biting. There was too much at stake for him to play into her game.

"Just tell me what you saw"

"There is a connection to the Montgomery murders, but it's not the same UNSUB" She announced, appearing disinterested, but Gideon could tell it was merely an act.

"What makes you say that?" Derek came closer, intrigued.

"The torture signature is different" Riley shrugged.

"The methods of torture are the same, knife wounds, burns…" Reid sounded confused as he looked back at the pictures, trying to see what she saw.

"The methods are the same but there's no finesse, no art to it…"

"You think these murders are some kind of art?" Detective Baker pounced on her, agitated by her choice of words. It didn't matter that he just heard Hotch declare she wasn't the UNSUB, he still wasn't entirely convinced and as far as he was concerned - she was still a suspect. "What is this woman even doing in this room?" He looked pointedly at Gideon and Hotch "An hour ago she was a suspect and now all of the sudden we trust her enough to show her crime scene photos?"

"A torture killer constantly prefects his fantasy…his methods of torture, he constantly gets better at it." Riley ignored the accusations and started explaining what she meant "He evolves, he learns: how to cut in just the right place, less blood more pain, how to concentrate the burns in the most painful areas. These killings, there's no elegance, no finesse, no indication that he got better at it between killings - it's just the opposite. The Montgomery's weren't that UNSUB's first kill, by then he already perfected his torture. And then what? 6 years later, he goes backwards on the learning curve? He starts out cold and calculated and then turns to a raging psycho? Torture killers don't evolve that way."

"She's right" Prentiss realized "This guy is a copycat"


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Gideon" Hotch approached his old friend quietly. He needed this to be a private discussion and he didn't want the other team members alerted to it "I think it may be wise to keep Riley around"

"You want her to take an active part in the investigation?" Gideon didn't sound surprised but Hotch didn't know if it was because the older profiler had already come to the same conclusion or because after so many years on this job nothing really surprised him anymore.

"We can keep her as a consultant, temporary assignment" Hotch shrugged.

"Aren't you in enough trouble with the director as it is?" Gideon asked "She's not going to like this"

"Let me worry about the director" Hotch said with more conviction than he actually felt. He still had no idea how to deal with the director, mostly because he still had no idea what the woman actually had in plan for him. But all that was tomorrow's worries - today, he had a case to concentrate on.

"You sure about this?"

"All I know is we've been looking at these photos for three days. She looked at them for 3 minutes" Hotch answered "She could be useful"

* * *

He walked in with out any trouble. It was really amazing how easy it was to get into houses in the so called "good neighborhoods" of town. People were trusting, complacent, other than looking their doors and windows, most of them didn't even bother with other means of protection.

The house was dark. Everyone was sleeping - he'd made sure of that. He slowly climbed up the stairs, he was in no hurry - he had time. He went down the hall and got into the children's room, watched them sleep, then made his way to the other end of the hall and entered the parents bedroom. He watched them as they slept with their arms around each other - so quiet, so peaceful. He gently sat at the edge of the bed and reached out, placing his hand so it covered the woman's mouth and nose.

She opened her eyes immediately, for the first second her expression was sleepy, confused, then the look of terror came to her eyes as he placed the knife to her throat.

* * *

Derek walked out of the elevator and headed down the hall to his room. It was nearly 1 am and all he wanted was to find the nearest bed and dead-drop into it for as many hours of sleep as he could squeeze in. He lifted his head to check for room numbers and the sight before him caused him to stop in his track and smile at the familiar and amusing sight.

Riley was sitting on the carpeted floor of the hallway, the files and pictures of the crimes scenes spread out before her, several pages filled with writings were scattered around her some of them crumpled into little balls and tossed all around her.

He walked up and crouched down into a sitting position beside her, leaning his back against the wall.

"This looks familiar" He said after a moment passed and she didn't even acknowledge his presence. When she looked up at him with confusion written all over her face, he elaborated. "You used to do this all the time, take over the hallway, spread everything around on the floor"

"It's easier to see everything like this" She smiled at him "And my room is too stuffy to work in"

"So you're officially joining the case"

"Well, you know, Hotch gave me the whole speech about it being my duty and how lives are in stake… he's pretty hard to say no to once he starts with the duty and honor speech"

"How do you think he keeps us all in the BAU?" Derek joked and Riley laughed.

"Hey, you guys having a hallway party?" Emily suddenly showed up, on her way to her own room and looked at them with an amused expression.

"I was just going over the case, trying to catch up with you guys" Riley explained

"You wanna join us Prentiss?" Derek teased "It's pretty comfy down here…"

"It's pretty comfy in my bed too…" She shot back with a smile before bidding them goodnight and disappearing down the hall and into her room.

"So…" Derek turned back to Riley once Emily was gone, picking up on of the scribbled papers and looking at her notes "Did you get anything interesting so far?"

* * *

He phone started vibrating while she was in the hall talking to Derek and Riley which is why she declined the offer to join them and beat a hasty retreat back to her room. The team was all here, either sleeping or down at the hotel restaurant so none of them was likely to be calling her and no member of her family or circle of friends would be calling her this time of night - which left only one person.

"Hello Director" She finally answered the phone as she took a seat on the edge of the bed

"Agent Prentiss I figured you might still be awake, hard at work I presume?" the now familiar voice greeted her, sounding warm and sweet. But after spending her entire life around politics and politicians, Emily could smell an attempt at manipulation a mile away and the friendly tone just wasn't going to convince her otherwise.

"What can I help you with Director?" Emily tried to sound as polite as she could while sending a clear message, hoping the director would back off.

"I think I've made that pretty clear on our last conversation Agent Prentiss" The director replied and Emily could practically see the smug smile on the woman's face through the phone. "So how is it that I receive an official request for temporary assignment without hearing about it from you first?"

"I don't understand the problem…" Emily tried feigning innocence

"The problem is that Agent Hotchner is going off the grid once again and I'd like to have known about it in advance" Now the director's tone finally started to sound angry and demanding. "Luckily for both of us, this kind of thing may be just what I was waiting for. I want you to keep a close eye on that new consultant he brought in Agent Prentiss. I've read her employment file and it is more than likely that her actions will provide me with the leverage I'm looking for."

When Emily refused to reply the Director continued "Just keep me appraised Agent Prentiss, that is all I ask for"

A moment later the director ended the conversation and all Emily could do was sigh and put her head between her hands. She had no idea how she ended up in this situation, much less an idea about how to get herself out. She had a feeling that what ever she decided to do, a lot of people were going to get hurt in the process.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

They began the next morning bright and early and Derek hoped no one noticed that it took 3 cups of coffee before he could actually talk in coherent sentences. He took some guilty comfort in the fact that Riley looked even worse than he did after the two of them had stayed up half the night - first talking about the case, then moving on to mundane conversation, catching up with each other's life. Currently she was leaning her head against her arm on the desk trying to pretend engrossed in the file in front of her while the other team members were milling around the room, going over all the information again, trying to figure out what they were missing.

He was interrupted from his musing by the sound of his phone ringing (much too loudly for this early in the morning).

"Talk to me baby girl" Derek answered his cell phone with a smile and ignored the amused look Riley gave him at hearing him refer to someone as 'baby girl'.

"We just got a call from the Phoenix P.D." Garcia said gravely "There's just been another murder. Another family killed exactly the same way. They're sending us the file right now"

"Garcia says there was another killing. In Phoenix" Derek informed everyone as he flipped his cell closed without bothering to say goodbye to Garcia.

"He moved out of his comfort zone" Gideon wondered out loud, puzzlement written all over his face "Why? What made him go there?"

"He's not on a spree" Morgan interjected "Spree killers very quickly leave behind all or parts of their ritual in favor of the quick release of the kill. They go off script. This guy is still doing everything exactly the same as he did before he started moving"

"Three families killed in a matter of two and a half weeks" Hotch stated "We need to give these guys some kind of profile - and fast!"

"Do we even have a profile to give?" Reid wondered "I mean, this UNSUB is presenting with too many inconsistencies. He's a torture killer but instead of simply deriving pleasure from the torture and control itself he had a pre-fixed ritual which he performs methodically.

"And the ritual is mixed in itself" Reid nodded following her train of thought "he targets the children and forces them to listen to their families being tortured but kills the child before he can hear the parents actually being killed which to him probably constitutes an act of mercy. He goes on a spree but still sticks to his ritual. He's all over the place. It's like he's two different people"

"Could this be a killing team?" Prentiss wondered

"We have no indication there was more than one UNSUB at the house" Riley got up from her place against the desk and started pacing as she spoke. "And if we're going by the theory that this man is obsessed and copying the Montgomery murders, it's highly unlikely to find two torture killers with the exact same sadistic fantasy. No, this is one man!"

"Two behaviors" Gideon mumbled, his eyes fixed on the crime scene photos as he tried to follow a thread of thought as it appeared in his mind "One killing, two rituals… one UNSUB…"

Suddenly it hit him - it was like a light bulb switch being flipped, like finding the last piece of the puzzle and finally being able to see the entire picture.

"Tell them we're ready to give a profile"

* * *

"We're looking for a white male, between the ages of 20 to 30" Hotch started the profile once all the police officers were comfortably seated in front of them "Our UNSUB has a high level of intelligence and a high level of organization. He lives alone and comes from a relatively wealthy family. He has or had a steady, high end, job but he's never been able to hold on to one for a long period of time. As to his last job he either quit or was fired for erratic behavior like spotty attendance."

"Our killer is also suffering from dissociative identity disorder, more commonly known as multiple personality disorder." Gideon said gravely

"Contrary to common belief, patients diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder are rarely a danger to society nor are they foaming-at-the-mouth kind of crazies" Reid said although Gideon noticed his tone was a little flat. He knew what was going through his young protégée's mind - Tobias Hinkle and his alter egos - Raphael and Charles Hinkle. It didn't elude Gideon that having another murderer on their hands suffering from multiple personalities was going to hit very close to home with Reid after what he's been through. But there was really not much he could do about it.

As if confirming his suspicions, Reid Glanced at him for reassurance before taking a deep breath and continuing "Truddi Chase, author of the book _When Rabbit Howls_ claimed to have had, at one point or another, up to 92 personalities. Yet with constant therapy and some medication she was able to lead a fairly normal life, even getting married and raising children"

"There is some debate whether MPD actually really exists and it is a certainty that our UNSUB has never been formally diagnosed with the disease." Emily took over where Reid left off "Real or not, our UNSUB believes he has this disorder and is manifesting symptoms of it"

"Our UNSUB became aware of the Atlanta Montgomery killings of 2001 around the time that his disorder first started manifesting itself." Morgan stated "While the UNSUB himself was horrified by the killings, his other personality was fascinated by it and became fixated on it, seeing it as the perfect way to fulfill his sadistic fantasies"

"The inconsistencies in the ritual indicates that our UNSUB had no control over the switch between personalities" Riley supplied but was cut short by one of the officers raising his had

"Excuse me Ma'am, but we're not psychologists, how are we supposed to diagnose someone with this … Dissociative identity disorder?"

"It's true" Gideon answered him "Which is why once you have a valid suspect in for questioning you should have one of us agents in there with you for the interrogation"

"But you are more then qualified to look for tells." Riley spoke again, reassuring the officers in the room "The UNSUB will most likely present initially as presentable, articulate and even soft spoken, but he will be evasive or even paranoid and will do his best to avoid being in your presence for a long period of time, up to a point where trying to detain him will probably cause a violent reaction. Look for un-explainable mood swings, scars that indicate self mutilations or suicide attempts, a suspect that is missing chunks of time or refers to himself in plural or in third person."

"Our UNSUB is moving, we don't know where yet but he has a specific goal in mind and he's going to keep killing families until someone stops him." Hotch concluded then nodded for the officers indicating the briefing was over and they could get back to their duties.

He could see their faces as they slowly filed out of the room, he recognized the emotions written on their faces - he'd seen them before. They were distrustful and skeptical. They were field officers; they worked on facts and figures. Their thinking was often linear - cause and affect, means and motive - the kinds of logical leaps and psychological deduction the agents of the BAU employed were completely foreign to them and they didn't trust what they didn't understand. He just hoped they've heard and took to heart enough of the profile to notice the signs when they presented themselves.

Meanwhile they had to somehow narrow down the list of suspects and try as he may he had a feeling that the 4 calls from the director on his cell phone weren't an indication of happy news and would, sooner or later, have to be answered. He voted for later.

* * *

"You okay?" The question was asked casually as soon as everyone filed out of the room. Gideon's tone was casually - it was obvious he was trying not to make a big deal of it.

"Sure, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Reid feigned innocence even though he knew exactly what Gideon was trying to subtly ask. A part of him wanted to be angry at the subtlety, wondering how much longer would he be treated with kit gloves, while a different part of him was thankful for the use of discretion. He wondered for a moment if he's always going to be so confused when it comes to this own feelings.

When Gideon didn't push further but simply continued standing quietly next to him, Reid gave up the pretense and Shrugged "I'm fine Gideon, I can do my job"

"I never said you couldn't"

"But you're worried about me…" Reid said uncomfortably though his tone wasn't really accusing. He knew Gideon, the whole team in fact were still worried about him. Hell he was still worried about himself. He'd thrown away the drugs weeks ago but the need was still there, that little voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like Tobias asking him _"it help, doesn't it?"_, that voice that told him to go down to the bad neighborhoods of Washington and find a drug dealer just to take the edge off. The fact that he hadn't succumbed to that voice as of yet offered little if any comfort to him, and he was sure it wouldn't make Gideon any less worried about him either.

"Our UNSUB had multiple personality disorder just like Tobias Hinkle, the similarities…"

"I don't need the similarities to remember him…" Reid let out before he could stop himself then quickly shook his head and cleared his throat "I'm fine. I can do this"

"Yes you can…" Gideon said affectionately and placed his hand on Reid's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze.

He was still worried about his young protégée. He'd been there himself after Adrian Bale and he wasn't so stupid as to think that all of Reid's problems would be solved with a blink of an eye. It would take time – he knew that better than anyone. But he also knew that it was already starting to get better – Reid was slowly making his way back from what ever hell Tobias Hinkle put him through – he was given the push he needed back in New Orleans and now Gideon had to trust him to make the rest of the journey on his own and on his own time. All he could do was take a step back and keep an eye on the young man – be there to catch him in case he falters again. And he had every intention of doing just that.


	9. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay in posting - my mind is racing a hundred different ways and instead of focusing on the stories which are yet unfinished it keeps coming up with new ones... **

**Like always - don't own anything except my original characters and you can have them any time...**

* * *

After a quick debate it was decided that Morgan and Prentiss would go to Phoenix to check out the newest crimescene with JJ tagging along to deal with the local press which seemed to be picking up the scent of a serial killer story and demanding answers.

The rest of the team along with Riley and Detective Baker was going to stay one more day in Tuscon and take another look at the Cramer and Anderson crime scenes to make sure nothing was over looked before tying up all loose ends and joining them in Phoenix.

The three of them were currently in a car heading north-west on highway 10 with Emily in the driver's seat and the only sound so far being JJ's seemingly endless phone conversations.

"So can I ask you a question?" Emily suddenly broke the silence and glanced at him sideways while still making sure to keep her eyes on the road.

"Sure"

"Was there anything between you two? You and Riley, I mean?"

"Why do you ask?" He looked at her quizzically and noticed that JJ was now done with her latest conversation and working hard at seeming uninterested in the conversation that was taking place in the front seat.

"You just seem to be very close…"

"We've known each other for a long time…"

Emily could tell he was starting to get defensive and quickly backpedaled. "Of course…I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it…I was just curious…"

She sent a nervous glance at the rear view mirror at JJ trying to gouge her reaction. She didn't want to push or prod. She knew how much Derek valued his privacy and even though the two of them had gotten closer as the weeks and months went by she still wasn't sure where exactly the lines stood between being friendly and meddling.

There were a few moments of silence until Morgan finally relented "One date, first year of the academy"

"Really? What happened?" her curiosity was now peaked and JJ stopped pretending she wasn't really listening and leaned forward with a slight mischievous smile.

"When Riley and I got to the academy we were paired off together" He started explaining "There was tension, you know, attraction… we both knew we wanted to end up at the BAU and dating would be a problem…"

"But I thought you said you went on a date…" JJ interjected

"Yeah well, Riley had a theory. She decided that we should go out on one date, her reasoning being that taking into consideration her horrible track record on dates, the date would probably be a disaster which would then solve all out problems and we'd be able to go back to being friends" He laughed and the two girls mirrored his amused expression – finding the situation and the crooked reasoning behind it somewhat familiar. It was nice. Sitting in this car forgetting for a minute what they were heading to and talking about something light and amusing. Derek wasn't really the poster boy for sharing personal things but his dating life wasn't something he usually had a problem discussing and just having a conversation with his two co-workers – who were also close friends – that didn't involve and UNSUB or some grisly details of blood and gore was a nice change of pace. And he did consider them friends. JJ had been his friend practically from the moment they started working together, her warmth and openness was hard to resist, and Emily, even though she was a newcomer proved to be an easy listener and their conversations which started from a simple admiration for the same author quickly evolved into a solid friendship.

"So how was the date?"

"Unfortunately, the date was amazing. The best date I've ever had in fact" He laughed again, amused by the memory.

"And you never went out again?" JJ asked

"Nah, we thought it would be better if we don't go down that path"

"Well, if it's any consolation dating a co-worker is pretty hard" Emily quipped "You were probably right not to start anything…"

"Really?" Derek's tone was teasing and JJ smiled broadly at Prentiss with a look that told her she just put her foot in her mouth "Are you talking from personal experience here Prentiss?"

Emily blushed and suddenly became extremely interested in the road in front of her, she cleared her throat and quickly (and not so subtly) attempted to change the subject, much to both JJ and Derek's amusement, by asking Derek to double check the map to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

* * *

"We're still missing a large portion of the profile" Hotch said about a minute after walking back into the conference room and taking a seat at the desk next to Gideon and opposite Reid. Riley had gone with Detective Baker to check both crime scenes for clues that might have been missed the first time around and the two of them were expected back any minute now, their search having yielded no results. "We know the obsession but we don't know why this obsession – why the Montgomery case? Surely there are much more famous cases out there for him to get fixated on…" 

"And how does he know all these details?" Reid asked and Hotch realized the question must have been circulation in the young genius's mind for a long time "The Montgomery case got quite a lot of press in it's time but there's no way all these details were released to the press…"

"Who would have access to this kind of information?" Gideon mused out loud "Police officers working the case, FBI agents…"

"You think Riley might have told anyone?" Hotch asked reaching the logical conclusion

"Told anyone about what?" Riley's voice came from the doorway and the three men jerked in surprise, none of them having noticed she was back.

Reid quickly buried his head back in the folder he was examining and Gideon and Hotch exchanged a look before deciding wordlessly that the question just had to be asked

"We were just thinking about the fact that the UNSUB seems to know a lot of details about the Montgomery case" Hotch said tentatively "Things only people involved with the case would know…"

"So you're thinking a cop or an agent?..." Riley completely missed the point and then trailed off as realization of what he was trying to say finally hit her "Or do you think it's me again? You know this constant bouncing between being helpful and being the suspect is really starting to be tiresome!'

"It might have been someone you talked to" Reid interjected in an attempt to save his boss from the anger in Riley's voice "Someone you confided in about the case, maybe shared the intimate details…"

His well intentioned plan to deflect Riley's anger from Hotch worked but he immediately realized the holes in his plan when Riley turned her angry glare at him – seemingly intent on making him the new target of it. "I was a trained FBI agent, I don't go sharing information about cases with random people not to mention the fact that I have a degree in psychology and criminology from Stanford and I'm pretty sure I'd notice a guy with multiple personality disorder and refrain from putting ideas into his head…"

"Could Lily have told anyone?" Gideon decided to try a different approach

"Lily doesn't talk to just anybody and she doesn't remember the night her family was killed" Riley insisted

"So we're back to cops and FBI agents associated with the case…"

"Actually there's one group we might have overlooked" Reid cut off Hotch mid sentence, his tone getting that excited quality that only happened when he was on to something that could potentially be important "Lily's doctors… they would have specific details about the case so they could tailor a treatment best suited for her needs. They'd have the complete case file…"

* * *

"Hello my sovereign" Garcia greeted "Give me a command and ye shall be rewarded" 

"Garcia I need you to work your magic" Hotch said urgently "I need you to make a list of all medical personal that worked at the various mental hospitals Lily Montgomery was in. Check doctors, orderlies, male nurses, interns, anyone who would have access to patient medical files"

"Ok, but just to give you a friendly warning in advance it's going to be a long list - Lily Montgomery was hospitalized at 4 different institutes over the last 6 years." Garcia informed him.

"Narrow it down to anyone between the age of 20 to 35 and check employment records - look for someone who changes jobs frequently"

"I'll get that list over to you as soon as I can…"


	10. Chapter 9

They introduced themselves to the local police officer; a young man who looked a little green around the gills, and followed him into the house. Emily noticed how the man led them to the upstairs floor and indicated the parent's bedroom down the hall but didn't actually come with them to check out the room. If she had to guess - she would put a month's salary betting the young officer lost his lunch after first seeing the bodies.

The scene in the parent's bedroom was a carbon copy of the crime scene photos from the Anderson family. The air was still and the stench of death and flesh beginning to decay was mixed with the coppery metallic smell of blood. The parents were in the bed, tortured and mutilated, the mother was severely beaten, hardly recognizable. The father was stabbed repeatedly which was surprising since there was not a lot of blood on the bed. Both of them had ligature marks on their hands and feet and burns on their arms and legs. Two of the children were at the foot of the bed each lying in a pool of their own blood.

"This looks exactly the same as the Anderson and the Cramer house." Emily said when Derek rejoined her in the master bedroom.

"The oldest girl was placed into a cupboard under the sink in the adjacent bathroom" Derek reported.

"I don't see what we can learn from this Morgan. It's all the same. There's nothing new here…" Emily sounded frustrated and he couldn't blame her "How is he choosing these families? We can't find any link between them, and the victimology is too specific for it to be random…"

"That's the one piece of the puzzle we still need to figure out" He said gravely letting the frustration he was feeling seep into his voice. He indulged it for a second, closing his eyes and rubbing them tiredly, but he only allowed himself a second.

"We know the oldest child is the target…" he mused "let's go over the kid's bedroom see if we could find anything that would help us figure out a connection…"

* * *

"Agent Hotchner" Hotch greeted into his phone even though he already knew who was on the other end of the line (thanks to the wonderful technology that was caller ID) and the identity of the caller made him want to do anything but be friendly and cooperative.

"Good afternoon Agent Hotchner" The director greeted in that icy tone that he learned to associate with her by now "I hear there's been another murder in Phoenix. Don't you think this thing is getting a little out of control?"

"We're getting closer. We have a profile, we're working on narrowing down the list of suspects as we speak…"

"All the while families are being killed all over the south west" She retorted dryly "And it doesn't seem like your newest addition to the team is making it any more likely for you to stop this UNSUB before he kills another family"

"Miss Davis is not a magic bullet Director" He said curtly, his patience running thin "We didn't bring her in so she could wave a magic wand and solve the case for us…"

"Watch your tone Agent Hotchner, and for the record, I can't say I fully support the decision to bring a loose canon ex-agent into this investigation at all…"

"It was a command decision…" He started to explain but she cut him off

"As much as I would love to discuss your 'command decision' and believe me when I say that we're going to have that conversation in the near future, that's not what I want to discuss at this particular moment…"

He waited patiently for the other shoe to drop, deciding not to give her the satisfaction of actually asking her what she meant.

"This case is getting out of hand and the press is feeding the frenzy. I'm setting up a task force to handle this investigation, you'll still be a part of the case but I'm sending a more senior Agent to head the task force…"

He wanted to argue, to try to explain to her that they had a handle on the situation and bringing in more feds would only cause more confusion and chaos, but he knew it would be futile. She wanted to make him look incompetent and taking the case away from him and his team was the best way for her to do that.

"You're the director. It's entirely your decision"

Even without being in the room with her he could tell by her pause that she was thrown off by the easiness in which he relinquished his power. It gave him an odd comfort to know he could make her loose her control over the situation like that - even by a small amount.

Finally she recovered "The special task force will be assembled as soon as possible. You can expect their arrival the day after tomorrow"

She hung up the phone before he could answer, not that he had anything to say to her even if she'd stayed on the line. He fought the urge to throw his phone against the wall and watch it shatter into a million pieces just for the hell of it, but he knew that other then the momentary satisfaction of venting his anger on an inanimate object, it wouldn't do him any good.

He had to work the case, and now, to make a hard case even harder - he had to work it fast, before whoever the director chose would come and take over the investigation.


	11. Chapter 10

"Garcia, tell me you've got that list for me…" Hotch answered his phone without preamble.

"I'm still working on it" she replied and he noted her tone was less cheery then usually indicating there were more bad news in his near future

"Garcia, what is it?"

"Before I tell you, I want to remind you that shooting the messenger is really bad decorum…"

"Garcia…" his voice had a warning tone to it as he put his phone on speaker for the others to hear.

"I've got another murder for you matching the same MO" Garcia reported "6 months ago the Jennings family was killed in their home in Albuquerque New Mexico Mom, Dad, 3 children, all killed. The crime scene pictures are pretty gruesome."

"6 months ago? How come we weren't notified?" Gideon wondered "Didn't anyone make the connection?"

"That's the thing… The case in New Mexico isn't officially open… the Albuquerque police already had a suspect in custody in less than 48 hours, the suspect confessed and the DA made a plea bargain"

Hotch thanked her and hung up shortly after she promised to send over anything she had on the Albuquerque case ASAP. He didn't need to look over at Gideon to know that the older profiler had the same confused expression on his face as the one he was currently showing.

* * *

The team had to split up yet again. This time Gideon and Riley took the jet over to Albuquerque while Hotch and Reid planned on packing up and heading to Phoenix to join the others.

As soon as the plane was in the air Riley flopped on the chair across the small desk from Gideon and placed her files in front of her. Gideon didn't bother lifting his eyes from the file he was currently reading and she hesitated for a moment, trying to summon the courage to talk. It didn't matter that she'd known the man for years or that she used to work very closely with him every day. It wasn't even because she left the BAU under less than perfect circumstances which left the air between them a little charged - his presence had always made her nervous and tongue tied and she had a sneaking suspicion that he knew it and enjoyed it.

"So what do we know about the man they have in custody?" She finally asked

"Marcus Wright, 29 years old, worked as a landscaper for the Jennings family" Gideon tossed the file on the table and recited from memory "Previous criminal record going back 5 years, did 3 years in jail for embezzlement and drug possession charges, while he was in prison he was diagnosed as showing several symptoms of schizophrenia and placed on medication."

"Was he still talking his medication when he allegedly committed the murder?"

"The file doesn't say…" Gideon replied with a small twist of his lips that indicated it was a detail he'd already noticed and considered "What have you got on the murder scene?"

"Well, to tell you the truth there's a lot missing in here too. The coroner's report is not detailed enough, the crime scene photos are in such poor quality that you can hardly see the wound pattern…"

"The way I see it we have three options" Gideon cut her off mid-rant "Either the Jennings family was killed by the same UNSUB that killed the Montgomery family, or it's the same UNSUB who killed the Anderson's and the Cramer's"

"What's the third option?"

"That this is a completely different case in which Marcus Wright may be the actual perpetrator" She could tell from his voice that he considered this third option as highly unlikely "So which on is it?"

She opened the file in her lap and took another look at the few crime scene photos while Gideon waited patiently. "I don't think it's the UNSUB from the Montgomery case. Again, there's too much emotion behind it, too much anger. The man who killed the Montgomery family was surgical, precise, he relished in the pain but he was very methodical about it, he had a precise goal, this guy is playing it by ear. As to whether this is the same UNSUB we're looking for? I honestly can't tell yet."

* * *

Derek entered the bedroom and took a careful look around. The room was surprisingly neat, for having belonged to a teenage girl, and nothing seemed like it was touched or disturbed by the killer. It was exactly the way the young girl had left it when she went to bed that night, as if she was about to walk in any minute and sit on her bed, or listen to her CD's. He checked the notebooks on her desk but nothing caught his eye. He looked in dresser and checked the clothes that were hanging on the rack in the closet but that search yielded no results either. He was just about to leave the room when he passed the large pin board that was hanging on the wall by the door. He paused and looked at the pictures tacked to the board. Something finally caught his eye.

"Hey Prentiss, come in here for a second!"

She came in a moment later from the direction the parents' bedroom, where she was still looking for clues, with a questioning look on her face

"Do you have the crime scene photos from the Cramer house?" he was still looking at the photos on the board.

She went out to the hall, coming back after a few seconds with the case file in her hands and handed him the photos. He went through the photos until her got to the one he was looking for and pulled it out of the file to examine it.

"Take a look at this, the Cramer family, Chris Cramer had get well cards all over his wall from his team mates, and then look at this…" He pulled a picture off the board and handed it over to Prentiss "This is a picture of Lacey Baker taken recently. She has a cast on her leg…"

"So both kids were sick or injured lately" Prentiss sounded skeptical "One in Tucson and one in Phoenix…it doesn't necessarily mean there's a connection"

"So far it's the only connection we've got!"

"I'll call Garcia" She shrugged, figuring he was ight – it wasn't like they had a whole lot to go on anyway "Maybe she can dig something up…"

* * *

"Agent Gideon, Miss Davis" The DA, a man named Alan Chandler rose from his seat behind the desk to greet them as they were shown into the office. He looked about 45, tall, with a head full of black hair that was beginning to grey at the temples and a tiered look on his face that indicated he was overworked and underappreciated. Gideon recognized the type immediately - an overworked lawyer with an overly inflated ego and a territorial-alpha-male attitude. "My secretary told me you asked for a meeting. What can I do for you?"

"We're here in regards to Marcus Wright" Gideon explained but all he got from the man was a confused look "The Jennings family murder, Marcus Wright is the suspect"

"Oh right!" Chandler finally nodded "But Mr. Wright is not a suspect, he confessed to the crimes, he plea-bargained as I recall."

"We'd like to talk to Mr. Wright"

Chandler frowned "I don't understand. What is the FBI's interest a solved case from 4 months ago?"

"We're investigating a series of murders in Arizona and we'd like to talk to Mr. Wright"

Riley could tell that Gideon was trying to be give the man diplomatic answers in order to prevent him from asking too many questions but apparently the strategy was failing. "Marcus Wright killed the Jennings family we have his prints in the scene, he has a criminal record and a history of mental illness and more over - he confessed to the crimes. It was an open and shut case"

"A minute ago you had trouble remembering who Marcus Wright was…" Gideon feigned confusion and Riley had to suppress a smile at the easiness in which Gideon caused the Chandler to trip.

"Whatever" Chandler dismissed Gideon with a wave of his hand "The case was air tight, whatever you guys are looking for you're not going to find it here"

Gideon studied the man in front of him for a second in silence then looked back at Riley and gave her the tiniest nod of his head – it was a signal and she knew exactly what is meant. The situation with the DA was tricky, they needed access to Marcus Wright but they couldn't alienate the DA in case they needed him down the road – Someone needed to get in his face but since Gideon already established himself as the leader of the two, it would be better if he wasn't the one to do it. She didn't mind really – the whole 'cop gone off the handle' routine was one that she had down to a tee.

She pulled out a crime scene photo and placed it on the desk in front of Chandler "Mr. Chandler does this picture seem at all familiar to you?"

He picked up the photo and examined it for a split second before throwing it back on the desk. "It's a picture from the Jennings crime scene, what about it?"

"Actually it's a picture from the Anderson crime scene in Arizona two and a half weeks ago, mother, father and two out of the tree children – all brutally tortured and murdered" She took another picture out of the file in her hands and placed it beside the first one, speaking through clenched teeth "This is a picture from the Cramer crime scene 4 days ago, also in Arizona. I guess I don't need to ask you if anything about these pictures seems familiar. How many more families need to die because of your screw ups?"

"Mr. Chandler, you may have the wrong man sitting in that jail cell of yours" Gideon concluded, coming to stand between Riley and the Chandler and giving her a look as if he was the man in charge restraining an over zealous rookie, it was a rouse, she was after all doing exactly what he told her to do, but it was a simple trick that worked each and every time "and the real killer is still out there killing. We need to talk to Marcus Wright."


	12. Chapter 11

**First, sorry for the delay! I got really busy at work and I just couldn't get to this story for an update. Second - I'm still seriously shocked over the last ep of criminal minds and can't wait for the next ep this week which makes me re-watch old episodes of the show, which gives me inspiration to write more of this fanfic - so I guess it's a good thing the CM writers have a tendency to keep us all on the edge of our seats...**

**Anyway - as alway... Read and send me your reviews to tell me what you think!**

* * *

Gideon watched as two burley guards led a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit into the interview room, his hands and feet secured by shackles and cuffs. He waited as the gourds secured the prisoner to the metal chair, using the time to carefully examine the man's behavior. Marcus Wright was tall and lanky to an almost ridiculous degree, making him appear hunched and clumsy. His long sandy hair was falling into his green eyes which were shifting uncomfortably, examining his surroundings. He flinched when the metal door slammed noisily behind the guards, but seemed relieved when he realized he was now all alone in the room. Gideon waited for another minute before going in – allowing him to enjoy the solitude, hoping it would put him more at ease.

"Mr. Wright" he opened once he came in and took a seat on the opposite side of the desk "My name is agent Jason Gideon, I'm here to talk to you about the Jennings family"

"Yeah, yeah, the Jennings… nice family, very nice, mow the lawn, trim the hedges, careful not to ruin the rose bushes…" Wright mumbled, not meeting Gideon's gaze.

Gideon frowned and made a note to himself to ask the guards if Marcus Wright had been given his medications lately. "Mr. Wright did you ever have any problems with the Jennings? An argument maybe?"

"No, no, no argument, don't like arguments, nice family, always been good to me…" Wright's speech pattern was erratic, jumbled at places. Yet he seemed coherent enough, aware of both what he was saying and it's implications.

"Mr. Wright" Gideon decided to try another tactic "Tell me how you killed the Jennings family"

"I killed them. I walked in, I killed them all, there was so much blood, a lot of blood, blood on my hands, The parents on the bed, the kids on the floor… so much blood, blood everywhere…" Wright was starting to show signs of agitation, rocking back and forth in his chair as much as his restraints would allow him "I told the cops, told the truth… made it right"

"Ok, ok" Gideon reached over across the small desk and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, ignoring the dirty look the guard through the glass from his standing point in the hall, for initiating physical contact with the prisoner "It's ok, Marcus. It's ok"

He waited for a few moments, giving Wright a chance to relax, before asking his final question "Marcus, you told me the Jennings were nice to you, good people – why did you kill them? Why did you do it?"

For the first time since the interview began Wright lifted his head and looked right into Gideon's eyes in a piercing gaze. Then he shrugged his shoulders and continued rocking back and forth in his chair.

* * *

"Baby girl, tell me you've got some good news for me" Derek rubbed his scalp tiredly and leaned back in his uncomfortable chair, trying to stretch some of the kinks out of his neck. He was now at the local police station, going over files of previous murders that could fit their MO and lists of

"Have I ever disappointed you?" Garcia replied happily. Derek noticed Hotch and Reid walking into the bullpen at that precise moment and quickly motioned them over, switching the phone to speaker mode and placing it on the desk for the rest of them to hear. "So I checked all the kids medical records. Beth Anderson, Chris Cramer and Lacey Baker as well as Sophia Jennings – were all in the ER approximately 6 month before they were murdered. The injuries vary – Chris Cramer had a broken leg, Beth Anderson dislocated her shoulder, Lacey Baker fractured her wrist and Sophia Jennings had a… small skull fracture… ouch, that sounds painful" Garcia couldn't help but insert some commentary into her report.

"Does that give us anything?" Emily wondered out loud "I mean, 4 kids, 3 different cities, at least 3 different hospitals if not more…"

"Actually… only 2 hospitals" Garcia informed her triumphantly "The Bakers were visiting family in Tuscon when Lacey fell and hit her head… she was treated at the same hospital where Chris Cramer and Beth Anderson were treated."

The four profilers exchanged a look that was a mixture of relief and understanding – this was it. The connection they were looking for, the missing link that would eventually lead them to their UNSUB.

"Garcia cross reference the employee list from both hospitals and see if we can find someone who worked in both places." Hotch instructed

"Already on it" Garcia, having already figured out where this was heading, was already running both lists on her screen in full speed "but those are pretty long lists so it might take a little while…"

"Run them against the list of employees at the mental hospital too" Reid suggested "It might help narrowing it down even further"

"Will do! I'll call when I get a name"

Once Garcia was off the line Derek turned around in his chair and addressed Hotch "Any news from New Mexico? Did Gideon and Riley check in yet?"

"The last I heard the DA was trying to put up some kind of a fight but Gideon said it was taken cared of" Hotch replied "They think it might be the same UNSUB we're dealing with here but they're not sure yet"

"Shouldn't we tell them what we found out?" Prentiss frowned at him "But now that we know Sophia Jennings fits our victim profile – isn't that pretty much a certainty?"

"To us – yes it is. To the local DA – I'm not sure!" Hotch said thoughtfully "I'd rather Keep Gideon and Riley in the dark for the time being – let them reach their own conclusions and back them up with evidence of their own"

"Agent Hotchner?" A deep throaty voice from behind made them all jump and turned around. Behind them was a black man in his early fifties. He was at least a heat taller than Hotch with dark hair that was starting the gray at the temples. Wearing an expensive gray suit and a red tie to match a serious expression – there was really no mistake as to who the man was or what he was doing there.

The director had just made her move.

* * *

Gideon walked into the police station to find Riley leaning back in a chair, her feet up on the desk, talking on the phone. On instinct, she straightened up her posture as soon as she noticed him, quickly finishing her phone call and joining him in a more secluded part of the room to talk more privately, away from the prying eyes of the other detectives who might not like the conversation.

"Did you get anything from Marcus Wright?"

"Inconclusive. He got agitated when describing the crime scene - could be because he did it and feels remorse, could be because he didn't do it…" Gideon replied, but she could tell he was holding something back. She didn't press though - She knew better then that. Gideon liked keeping his findings close to the vest until he heard what the others were thinking and could either agree with them or disprove their theory.

"Well, I think I just got something" She said excitedly "I just got off the phone with the forensic technician who handled the scene. There were only two prints of Marcus Wright found in the crime scene; one palm print on the doorknob, and a second print on the railing leading to the second floor. No other prints were found. There were no prints in any of the other murders and this was the only piece of physical evidence found at the crime scene"

"So what do you think happened?" Gideon challenged her.

"Marcus Wright was a gardener for the Jennings family for several months before the murders. Maria Jennings was a stay at home Mom, I'm thinking Wright was used to seeing her around while he worked." Riley started running the scenario in her mind. It was an old profiling technique, putting yourself in the UNSUB's shoes and trying to predict or guess his actions. "Only that morning he didn't, or maybe it was something else, maybe he just wanted a glass of water - for whatever reason he decided to go into the house, that's the first palm print on the doorknob. He goes in, the house is abandoned, he gets curious and goes upstairs - second print on the railing leading upstairs. He goes up sees the bodies and freaks - he knows that he'll probably get blamed for this, maybe he has a psychotic break - whatever the reason is he gets out of there"

"And the confession?" Gideon asked "Wright is mentally ill but he's not legally incompetent - why would he confess to a crime he didn't commit?"

"Wright didn't run, the police picked him up at home three hours after the bodies were found. They brought him in and questioned him for 6 hours straight. He's an ex convict with a history of mental illness, he was in the Jennings house… he's scared, stressed, probably behind of his meds…at some point they tell him that if he confesses they'll take the death penalty off the table. What other choice does he have?"

"He doesn't" Gideon nodded with a smile, indicating he agreed with her line of thinking. "We just found our UNSUB's first kill"

"So Marcus Wright has been spending the last 6 months in jail for a crime he didn't commit" Riley said sadly "Gideon you know that DA is not going to listen to us…he's not going to overturn the conviction just because we ask him nicely"

"That's tomorrow's problem" Gideon told her "Today we have a killer still out there and we need to catch him before he kills another family"


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello Everyone, First off - I just want to say I'm really sorry for not updating for like forever but I was studying for the Bar exam (yes, yes, I'm now officialy a lawyer - I know, I going straight to hell) and I hardly had time to breath let alone write, plus - when you're spending 12 hours a day studying dry law books - it doesn't really get the creative juices flowing if you know what I mean.**

**Any way - I'm back now and I'm working really hard to get all my stories updated as soon as possible so don't give up on me just yet! **

**Hope you enjoy this and don't forget to review and tell me what you think.. I'm a little rusty after not writing a word for over 2 and a half months so I would really welcome some feedback**

Chapter 12

"Hey Riles, What's up?" Derek flipped open his phone as soon as he recognized the number

"We're almost certain that we have a case of mistaken identity here. It's pretty obvious that Marcus Wright was railroaded into confession - given his fragile mental state it wouldn't even have been that hard."

"So the Jennings family was our UNSUB's first kill…" Derek surmised "He didn't start in Tuscon, he started in Albuquerque"

"Yeah, any leads on the hospital workers? Any match between them and the employees in Lily's mental institutes?"

An untrained man would have thought the unusual tone of her voice was due to the sense of discomfort she felt from knowing a psychotic killer used to be in such proximity to the girl she cared for but he could tell there was more to it then that.

"Not yet. What's going on Riley? What's on your mind?"

On the other end of the line Riley took a big breath and tried to calm her nerves. She debated not even bringing up the matter but now that Derek was asking her about it point blank - she couldn't bring herself to flat out lie to him.

"Listen Derek, I know that the hospital angle is our best lead but I have to say - I think we're ignoring the obvious here."

"Which is?" Derek asked even though he had a sneaking suspicion he knew where this was going to.

"What if the reason our UNSUB knows so much about the Montgomery killings is much more immediate then reading Lily's file in the hospital? What if the reason he knows so much is because he heard about it first hand? What if he heard about it from the killer himself?" He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was getting excited about the idea, her hopes of gaining a new lead in the case she had been pursuing for such a long time rising once again.

"Riley…"

"Look, I know it's just an assumption but it's at least a possibility…" She tried to insist

"No it's not Riley, not a plausible one. The man who killed the Montgomery family was a sadist - he wouldn't have been able to stop. These guys never stop. Not if they have a choice. The method of killing and the torture told us he was in total control through the entire ordeal - that kind of man doesn't go talking to other people about his crimes, it diminishes his ability to enjoy them and relive them. That guy is either Dead or in jail Riley and you know that."

"The profile can be wrong Derek" Riley insisted and Derek clenched his jaw in frustration

"It's not wrong this time Riley. Not this time"

* * *

"I assume you're the agent the director sent to take over the case…" Hotch dove right in as soon as he and the man were out of the team's ear shot. He knew he was being rude - but frankly… well, everyone knows how that famous line ends. He figured if the director was hell bent on sending her lackeys to make his job even harder than it usually was - well, then, he wasn't under any obligation to make the lives of said lackeys and easier by being nice or polite.

"I'm supervisory special agent Jim Devlin, I'm here merely on an advisory capacity" The agent tried to be politically correct "The director was simply concerned that the case was getting a little out of hand"

"I'm sure she was…" Hotch mumbled under his breath then simply nodded and headed back to the room where the team was still waiting for him.

They entered the room and Hotch curtly introduced the Agent Devlin without providing much of an explanation to his presence. He saw Derek raise an eyebrow at him and made a mental note to himself to have a talk with the younger profiler - Morgan was one of the best but he was known for having a short temper at times and the last thing he needed was to have him go off one the director's pet lackey and provide her with an excuse. He also noted the tightening of Prentiss's jaw and the way she bowed her head for a fraction of a second before she regained her composure and sent a polite - albeit somewhat strained - smile towards the newcomer.

"We just heard from Riley and Gideon in New Mexico, they're pretty sure that the Jennings family were the UNSUB's first kill, they're headed for the crime scene to get a feel for a place see if there is anything left there that would help us" Derek supplied, he didn't mention the rest of his conversation with Riley - there was no need to worry Hotch about it at the moment - especially if this new addition to the group meant what Derek thought it meant.

"It's a long shot considering it's been 6 months" Prentiss provided then finished her statement with a shrug that indicated that even though it was a long shot, they were going to pursue it anyway.

"Our UNSUB is on the move and we need to know where he's headed, is he going to strike again here in Phoenix or is he headed somewhere else?" Hotch stated and turned his eyes to Reid "Anyway you can work a geographical profile and figure that out?"

"I can try but until we know the UNSUB's identity or the driving force behind his psychosis - it's going to be inconclusive at best" Reid replied, already reaching for a map and heading for the nearest wall to pin it up.

"Right now, inconclusive will have to do" as he said these words, Hotch was all too aware of Devlin's eyes on him.

* * *

Their examination of the crime scene was made somewhat easier by the fact the the Jennings house was never repopulated. There was a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn and the house appeared in good shape indicating someone had maintained it over the years but there were no occupants. It wasn't surprising considering the atrocity that took place inside these innocent looking four walls.

Since they couldn't find a police officer willing to help them, he and Riley drove themselves to the address indicated in the files by themselves. The house is located in the outskirts of the city, fairly secluded from all the other properties nearby. The front door is locked but Riley jimmies one of the windows open and he doesn't bother asking her where she picked up this little trick.

Considering the house was abandoned since the murders Gideon half expected to find the evidence still intact, but they weren't that lucky because as they walked through the house they realized that someone made sure to clean up the blood and replace everything that needed replacing. Probably preparing the house for viewing by possible buyers.

"We need to dig more deeply into the Jennings family" Gideon said as they stepped into the master bedroom "If they were the first victims of our UNSUB we need to know what was the trigger"

"I don't think the local police are going to very helpful with that" Riley replied as she pulled several crime scene photos and held them up against the items around the room for comparison.

"Call Garcia, she can get you anything you need…" He said absent mindedly, already heading down the hall to check the other rooms.

"Gideon!" Riley called after him "It would help if I knew who Garcia was and what was the number…"

* * *

"Agent Prentiss" She tried to ignore Devlin as he called after her but she knew she couldn't avoid him for long. Instead, she kept walking until she was in a more secluded place of the station so the inevitable conversation would take place under fewer prying eyes. Only when she was sure no member of her team was currently within earshot did she turn around and face the agent.

"Did you want anything SSA Devlin?" she smiled pleasantly even though she felt anything but pleasant at the moment.

"The director told me to come to you as soon as I got here" He explained "She said you could be of some assistance…"

"You mean she told you I'd be willing to spy on my team" she said tersely

"How about if I ask you for information on someone who isn't a member of your team… like, say, former agent Riley Davis?" Devlin tried sleekly

"Even then - you'll only use it to discredit Hotch and Gideon since they're the ones who decided to bring her along. Don't try to play games with me agent Devlin, I've seen the political game played by people far better at it then you and the director from since before I could walk - I'm not going to be a part of it"

"The director seemed pretty convinced that you will be of some help to us" Devlin made a last ditch attempt in face of her obvious hostility

"Then the director doesn't know me very well" Emily replied, feeling stronger now that she had the opportunity to stand up to the director without actually having to do it to the woman's face. Standing up to a lackey and having him relaying the message of defiance was much easier than doing it directly and hopefully by the time the director decides how to respond to her refusal the case would be resolved and she would be off the hook for at least a little while.

Just as Devlin was about to say something further Hotch appeared around the corner looking for her. He gave her a strange look when he saw her companion but said nothing about it "Garcia is on the phone - she has something for us"


End file.
